Resume Place
The design system behind Resume Place, the original federal resume writing service since 1973. Brand book v1.1 codified the Tangelo / Midnight palette, the Messina type family across Sans / Serif / Mono, the wordmark and checkmark logomark, and a campaign system that ships against the federal-news cycle. Active production through 2026.
Tangelo. Midnight. The workhorse grays.
Three oranges, three blues, four grays, plus white. Tangelo leads as the point of recognition. Midnight Blue carries institutional weight. Mahogany covers destructive states.
Messina. Three cuts. Eleven sizes.
Messina from Lineto. Sans for the workhorse copy. Serif for editorial and federal moments. Mono for kickers and meta, treated all-caps with extra tracking.
One wordmark. One checkmark. A clear hierarchy.
Wordmark for the primary brand mark. Logomark for small-size shorthand. Documented lockups for cover layouts and certificates. Never invent a custom composition.
4-pt base scale. 13 steps.
From 4px micro to 128px hero breathing room. Section gaps step from space.12 (48px) on mobile to space.16 (64px) on desktop. Reading surfaces use the 720px narrow container; marketing and dashboard use 1140px.
Square corners with a soft edge.
The brand favors square corners with small radius softening on inputs and CTAs. Pills are reserved for the Online Learning sub-brand.
Motion serves comprehension.
Federal applicants read carefully under pressure. Animation must not delay the next read. Quick hovers, gentle transitions, no theatrics. Opacity-led entrances. Tangelo Orange is a signal color, not a kinetic one.
| Token | Value | Use |
|---|---|---|
| duration.instant | 0ms | Reduced-motion fallback |
| duration.fast | 150ms | Hover, focus, micro-interactions |
| duration.normal | 300ms | Standard transitions |
| duration.slow | 500ms | Reveals, page transitions |
| easing.default | cubic-bezier(0.4, 0, 0.2, 1) | Standard ease. Most transitions |
| easing.out | cubic-bezier(0, 0, 0.2, 1) | Entrances |
The core kit.
Buttons in three tiers. Badges for inline status. Cards for content surfaces. Forms tuned for federal-applicant readability on mobile.
Reusable surface arrangements.
Audience-keyed hero. Three-column program grid. Federal-news banner ticker. Certification card row. Newsletter inset. Sub-brand lockup discipline. Documented in the live brand book.
Surfaces in the wild.
Homepage. Federal job seeker hub. Agency training landing. Ten Steps trainer hub. Books and online courses. CCAR Builder app surface. ELTP capability statement. Certificate. Newsletter.